


Growing old is no fun  (or is it?)

by MedievalEnchanted



Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: F/F, Idiots in Love, LGBTQ, ctm elderly, cuteness, happiness, same sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26290291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MedievalEnchanted/pseuds/MedievalEnchanted
Summary: The year is 2014, and the staff from Nonnatus House, most have passed away but there are 6 of them still alive and kicking and into their 80th year of life. They are all in same sex relationships? Now same sex marriage is legal do they make a choice to marry or is this what breaks their relationships apart?
Relationships: Delia Busby/Patsy Mount, Lucille Anderson/Valerie Dyer
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Growing old is no fun  (or is it?)

They were all Nurses, all four of them, they were nurses from the late 1950’s up until about 1994, where they were all in their early 60’s and let’s face it you never really stop being a Nurse. It was a beautiful time, the 1950’s were the years of rebuilding from the war, it was a hard time but it was a time of proving that you could build from something terrible.

  
  


Patsy came to Nonnatus house in poplar at the beginning of the 1960’s, she joined a house of other midwives, nurses and Nuns (The Nuns were also midwives they just wore there habit and not a nurses uniform)

  
  
  


**Sister Julienne**

Sister Julienne was the head of nonnatus, she was a Nun and a phenomenal midwife, she was like a mother for the rest of the midwives, you could go to her in your moment of need, could talk to her about absolutely anything. She was motherly, loving, kind and a beautiful soul, maybe a little strict at times, like any mother or grandparent can be. She had a gentleness to her, she always believed in you when no one else did, she listened and gave everyone the love and kindness that they needed and deserved. There was not one person at nonnatus or even in the district who disliked Sister Julienne, she didn’t have the easiest life growing up, her father was in the army which probably meant moving around a bit, but when Sister Julienne, (who was known as Louise before taking her vows), was young her father moved them to a place where they would settle down, and she met a son of another army man, and they became close, and when they were about 17, he was planning to propose to Louise, but she stood him up outside the pictures and she became a postulant, the calling to God had been something she’d be longing for, for a while and she knew what she wanted. She lived her life to the fullest caring and loving not just her immediate Sisters and Midwives in Nonnatus house, but the whole of the district and in return everyone cared for her. When she died in 1994, aged 96 her death took a toll on everyone, she was the mother, the grandmother, the Auntie, the cousin and friend, she was everything you could ever want in a person. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Shelagh & Patrick Turner**

The one person her death took a big toll on was Shelagh Turner, when she came to Nonnatus house in the 1940’s she was postulant, fresh out of the nurses house, she came to poplar, a Nun called Sister Bernadette, her parents had died, her mother when she was just a young child and her father died later when she was about 15 years old, and she was then left an Orphan. She knew exactly what she wanted and she couldn’t sit still for two minutes, Sister Julienne became her mother, she was like any mother would be, they had a good, strong and loving relationship and Shelagh could talk to her about anything. Even when she fell in love with Dr. Turner, left the religious life. Sister Julienne was happy for her, she knew that shelagh had probably thought about this for a long time and she supported her in her life, for she had seen and watched Shelagh argue with herself for months about what she should be doing, if she should follow God, or follow her heart, which could very well lead to the same thing. In the end she chose her heart, she chose the thing, the person that she knew would make her heart and soul happiest. Her, Dr. Turner.

  
  


Shelagh and Dr. Turner eventually had 6 children together, including Timothy, Dr. Turner's son from his first marriage. Then Shelagh and Dr. Turner after they were married began trying for their own baby, however things didn’t go quite according to plan. They struggled, and they found out that when Shelagh had tuberculosis, it affected her reproductive organs as well, and although this was devastating news for them, after they came to terms with the news, they adopted a little girl, and named her Angela Julienne Turner, and she was perfect and was everything they wanted and then when Angela was about 3 years old Shelagh fell pregnant and she had Teddy, and then not long after, they fostered a little girl named May and then then 5 years after fostering they adopted her, but before they did they adopted another child called Henry, and a few months later Shelagh miraculously fell pregnant a second time, this time she had twin girls and called her Kirsten and Lizabeth, after the twins, no more children followed.

Patrick and Shelagh both passed away in 2008 within weeks of each other, Patrick died after a fatal stroke, and Shelagh died of a broken heart, that’s what their children stated, their parents had a love like no other, it was beautiful and they couldn’t live without one another.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Sister Monica Joan**

  
  


Sister Monica Joan, was one of oldest at Nonnatus House in fact she was one of the first to qualify as a nurse and midwife in the United Kingdom, she took her final vows to become a Nun in 1904 she would of been about 24 years old, and now in the 1960’s she was no longer a practicing nurse or midwife, she was in her 80’s, and probably had Dementia or Altzimers. Everyone who worked at Nonnatus house helped to take care of Sister Monica Joan, she was an exteric of sorts and she loved cake, not just cake, anything that was sweet, Sister Monica Joan would be there. So it was hard trying to hide the cake and sweet foods from Sister Monica Joan, because she always found it one way or another, she enjoyed her food, that wasn’t a bad thing but when everyone else wanted some cake, it was simply not there and when anyone would ask her about it she would pretend she didn’t know anything about it, which when Sister Evangelina was alive, that would certainly be one of the things that Sister monica Joan did that would aggravate her last nerve. Even though her mind was sick and old, she still had moments of lucidity, she had one of the most caring souls that walked this earth, she felt things to her core. Sister Monica Joan died peacefully in her sleep in 1984, she was 104 years old, just 4 years before Nonnatus' house was demolished, she was able to spend her last years in a place she knew and called home .

  
  
  
  
  


**Phyllis Crane**

  
  
  


Then we have the strong, fighting fit Nurse Crane, who lived her life continuously helping the lives of the women in Polar, when Patsy and Delia moved to Scotland, and settled down at the end of 1962, after a year of traveling the country, Phyllis was one of the first of their friends from Nonnatus to visit them in their new home. 

Phyllis came off as a hard, cold person but that was most likely because she had to be strong, and had to be an adult before her time, she was a grafter. She was born out of wedlock and in those days that was a big deal, she would have been named a bastard, illegitimate. Even on top of that, Phyllis didn’t have the easiest start to life, when her grandparents found out that her mother was pregnant with Phyllis they threw her out. Phyllis and her mother had no money and no where to live and her mother did anything she could to keep her child warm and put shoes on her feet, sadly this meant that she went into prostitution as it was the only road she felt was left. Doing this broke her mother and until the day Phyllis died on December 28th 2006, at 90 years old, she always said how much she wished she could tell her mother, that she loved her so very much and how proud she was to be her daughter. Phyllis remained a spinster for the rest of her life, and was surrounded by the most loving and caring friends.

  
  
  
  


**Violet & Fred Buckle and Reggie Jackson**

Now Violet and Fred Buckle, their life did get a little chaotic at times with Violet being Poplar’s counsellor, and having her shop to run, and with Fred doing everything he did to help at Nonnatus and do all the gardening, but they managed to make it work. They were a family unit, and Reggie stayed with his girlfriend Jane for 3 years, but then they sadly broke up and it took Reggie a good year to recover from the break up, it hit him quite hard. Violet had to sleep in with Reggie whenever he was home and when he began dating a new girl named Jean, Violet found it hard to accept her at first, she was so scared he was going to get hurt again. But, low and behold 5 years later Reggie and Jean were still together and they had a private ceremony, to celebrate their love. Violet and Fred were so proud, they never thought Reggie would settle down, but they couldn’t be happier for him. Fred sadly passed away in 1992, aged 83 from a second heart attack and Violet died in 2000, aged 90 from natural causes, sadly only a few months after Violet passed away, Reggie developed early onset dementia at the age of 58, he was with a care facility along with his partner Jean so they were able to take care of him until he passed away in 2010 aged just 68, and his partner Jean lived into her 80’s. 

  
  


But they were happy all of the, even in Fred’s later years he was still gardening and Reggie continued to help in growing fruit and vegetables and taking out the weeds and planting beautiful flowers, and Reggie continued to put flowers down on both Ivy’s grave stone as well as Barbra’s, until his dying day, especially for Barbara, Tom left and he couldn’t put flowers on his wife’s grave anymore, so Reggie made sure to put some down for him.

  
  
  
  
  


**Tom Hereward**

  
  


Now Tom, losing Barbara completely destroyed him, and after she died he didn’t think he would ever find peace again, and so he spent a week with his parents, he then came back to Poplar for a week, and the bishop gave him leave of absence for as long as he need, and as his father in law had invited him to his missionary posting in New Guinea, Tom had decided to accept the offer. He felt he could be closer to Barbara, and be doing some good. Arthur, Barbara’s father couldn’t have been more thrilled than to have Tom join him and Tom was there for a year before he found love again, I met a woman named Kwame, and after Tom asked not only Arthur Gilbert’s permission to marry her but asking Kwame’s father too they married 6 months later.

  
  


By 1972 they had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy, who were absolutely Tom’s world. Tom kept Barbra’s grass engagement ring in a locket and always kept it close to his chest and after Fred suggested to him to have a box for things he doesn't want to forget Tom kept their memories in there. One thing he made sure to have up in their home though, was a photograph in a frame of Barbra. He knew he needed to see her, not keep her tucked away and his wife Kwame understood, somehow Tom found yet another woman with such a kind and loving heart, who was incredibly understanding. Tom died in 1998, aged just 62 years old in a freak accident, he got hit by lightning, as he was walking back through an open field during a horrendous thunder storm, so he should have known better and that was the end of Tom Hereward.

  
  
  
  
  


**Sister Francis**

Sister Francis was a young Nun she entered the order when she was just 17 years old, but as a Nun they didn’t discuss their personal lives, Sister Francis was abandoned outside a church when she was only hours old luckily Sister Hilda, who was new to the convent life herself, she found baby Sister Francis before she was a Sister and they named her Mary Anne Nonnatus, they took her in and she wasn’t adopted until she was 8 years old, but her adoptive parents were amazing, however sadly only a year after adopting her, her mother passed away in a tragic accident, when Sister Francis was 14, she asked her father about her birth family and her father believed she was old enough to know the truth, obviously she knew she grew up with the sisters, but he felt she should know where she was left, how she was left. She deserved that at the very least, so he told her. What Sister Francis couldn’t understand was why she was left outside the church, why not inside where it would have been warmer. Her father didn’t have an answer for that, there could be any number of reasons.

  
  


“Why did she not want me?” Sister Francis asked this question not just to her father but when she saw the sisters, they still went to church and the church they went to was the one she was left outside of, she found that bit of information out from Sister Hilda.

Sister Hilda had continued to stay quite integrated in the young girls life, she was more so a big sister for her, even a crazy Aunt, but they both cared for one another equally. 

  
  


When Sister Francis was just 15, she informed her father of a big decision that she knew she would do when she turned 18, not only did she wanted to train as a nurse and midwife (Her mother having died when she was so young probably has some influence over her career choice) her father was of course supportive but it was the other thing he was more unsure with, she wanted to take vows to become a Nun.

  
  


He didn’t exactly say ‘No, you can’t do that, I won’t allow it’ but he did think she was maybe rushing into it, so he suggested that she stay with the sister at the mother house for 6 weeks, she would be staying with them as an almost postulant rather than a child that was waiting to be adopted. She agreed and the Sisters of St. Raymond Nonnatus also agreed, she had already chosen her Sister name, and asked the Sisters to call her by it, which they all agreed to, she spent 6 weeks in their company and at just 15 years old she knew this is the life she wanted.

  
  


Now because they new Sister Francis they agreed that she could start her journey when she was 17, so she still had 18 months to wait, but the sisters helped her get a head start on her studies, and her father soon came round to the idea he was proud of her, but very sadly 2 months before Sister Francis birthday her father died in a car accident. Sister Francis was absolutely devastated, but the Sisters took her in early and she quickly began her studies in nursing and midwifery and her religious studies too. For someone so young, she went through a lot in her short life, but she had so much to look forward to.

  
  
  


When she was 20 years old, Sister Mildred became the new Mother and she sent Sister Francis and Sister Hilda up to St Nonnatus House in Poplar, St. Francis was terrified but she was thrilled that Sister. Hilda would be with her on this new journey. Sister Hilda settled in quickly but Sister Francis struggled, she was a good, strong Nurse and Midwife but she just lacked the confidence. Overtime, with a little help from Mother Mildred when she visited, her confidence grew, and she became one of the most experienced midwives at Nonnatus house, and in 2010 when Sister Francis was 70 years old, she put up her nursing uniform and went into retirement.

  
  


Sister Francis was given permission to move up to Scotland, to Dalkeith, the other Sisters at the mother house knew Doctor Franklin was living up there so they thought it would be good for Sister Francis to be nearer to someone she knew.

  
  


Sister Francis settles in nicely with the other Sisters that lived up there, and as soon as she was settled she wrote to Trixie, in forming her where she was, and Trixie came to visit her and visa versa, it was a weekly occurrence, and their friendship gre even in their old age.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Sister Hilda**

Sister Hilda, she didn’t actually join the order until after the war had ended, maybe in some part that’s why she joined. She knew she would have to sacrifice a lot, but by the time she joined the order all her family had died, her mother died when Sister Hilda was just a baby, her father died in the war, and they didn’t have the best of relationship as it was, and Sister hilda’s only surviving sibling, her Sister, Hilda, she had a heart condition and died at the start of the war, that’s why Sister Hilda chose her name, she had other reasons too but her Sister’s death was devastating.

  
  


Sister Hilda wasn’t the usual Nun you would see, she was quirky, she spoke about what she missed before she became a Nun all the time. After she found Baby Sister Francis, her mindset changed a bit, finding a newborn outside a church isn’t something you forget, and although she began to take life with a more relaxed manner, she also had a bit of seriousness to her.

  
  


Sister Hilda stayed in Poplar and at Nonnatus, until it was demolished, and then she moved back to the Mother House in Chichester, which was demolished in 1994, and she was one of the last Nun that was buried there, she died in 1993, aged 79 years old and Sister Francis travelled and stayed for 2 weeks and made sure she was at her side the whole time, until she quietly fell away.

  
  
  
  
  


**Doctor Beatrix Franklin**

  
  


Beatrix Franklin, she was one of the most beautiful, most kind hearted and warming souls you would ever meet, and in 1965, she had been at Nonnatus House for over 10 years, and she loved her job, she really did, but she knew there was something missing, and after she had been in recovery from Alcoholism for just over 2 years now and she knew it was the time to do what she wanted and needed to do.

  
  


She was 26 years old when on a rainy day in October of 1962 she went and spoke to Sister Julienne, she told her that she had decided to train as a Doctor. Trixie didn’t waste any time in informing Sister Julienne of her decision and Sister Julienne wasn’t really surprised by this revelation, she told Trixie she would be behind her and support her no matter what. Trixie began her training as soon as she could, and she had the support of everyone. Trixie was probably the only nurse and midwife at Nonnatus that anyone thought was able to become a doctor and they mean that more for the time they lived in, where women according to men were only good for one thing, right? Of course it’s absolute bull and Trixie was confident enough in being able to say that it was rubbish.

  
  


Trixie was around 28 years old, in 1964 when she moved out of Nonnatus and had finally managed to buy her own home, which she had saved for since she knew what being a woman ment in the time that they lived. A year later when Trixie was 29 years old, she made the decision to adopt a child as a single parent, and as she was still training as a doctor, but she only had 2 years left. Trixie was still unsure if as a single woman, who was still training for a high strung career, that she would be accepted by the adoption agency, but to her surprise she was accepted 4 months after she had her interview and a month later she received the phone call she had been waiting for. A little girl, 6 months old, who had been given up by her 14 year old mother who had tried to keep her but her parents had been against her the whole time needed to be adopted quickly. Trixie was there, she adopted her, she had a daughter, and she named her Rebecca Ann Franklin and she was beautiful. She was Trixie’s whole world.

  
  
  
  


By the year 1968, when Trixie was 32 years old, she was a fully fledged Doctor, first female doctor for Poplar. She began working alongside Dr. Turner, which was a big help for him having an extra doctor to hand and especially one who had a nursing background and someone Patrick knew and could trust. 

  
  


Trixie flourished in not just her new career, but in motherhood too, and even though she hadn’t actively been looking for another child to adopt, the adoption agency gave her another call and said they had a new born baby boy, to be adopted as soon as possible, he’d been abandoned left in the house for weeks, with his 8 year old sister, his older sister had been trying to take care of him, but she was still a child herself. They had to get the cleansing station opened again and the baby was sent straight to the hospital before he arrived at the adoption agency. The babys sister was sent to Australia. Hearing about this little boy, reminded her of a family she had helped before and there was no question, she adopted this new born baby, who was about 2 months by the time Trixie took him home, she named him Garry Freddrick Franklin.

  
  


Trixie flourished through her new career and motherhood, and when Trixie turned 38 years old she moved away from Poplar, she moved to Dalkeith, not too far from Edinbrugh, she moved with her children Rebecca and Garry and started work as the Lochem in a small hospital. It was here where she met a woman named Suzannah Gallach. Suzzanah was quite tall, she stood at around 5”10” and had beautiful brown, long curly hair, and these bright blue eyes. She was beautiful, no one for trixie could ever come close to this woman. 

  
  


Trixie was lost for words anytime Suzzie spoke to her, she had never been lost for words, never in her life, so this was a bit of a shock for her. Trixie had decided to phone Patsy to see if she could help, the first words Patsy spoke to Trixie after she explained what was going on was “For a doctor who passed top of her class you aren’t half dumb.”

  
  


Trixie was even more confused until Patsy practically shouted with excitement down the phone “You love her you turd.”

  
  


Suddenly it all made sense, because it was just Trixie who was stumbling over her words, but Suzzie was too, it took Trixie a few weeks, but finally she asked her for coffee and the rest as they say is history.

Suzzie didn’t even question about taking on Trixie’s 2 children, they were a family and they would be her children too and she would love them unconditionally, then in 1970, Trixie and Suzie and the children moved in together, moving away from the city and closer to where Patsy and Delia where. They moved into an 18th century build and it was beautiful, it was perfect.

  
  


In 1980 when Trixie was 44 years old and Suzzie was 46, something rather big happened in their lives, Suzzie had proposed and her words were “Will you be with me through everything, be my wife whether they change the law or not, I want us to be US Trixie?”

There was no question Trixie of course nodded her head and agreed to marry Suzzie.

Trixie eventually retired in 2002, and Suzzie retired in 2004.

Rebecca a history teacher in a University and Gary became a social worker, Trixie and Suzzie were so proud of who their children had become, Rebecca was a very loud and confident young woman, Garry was a little more astute but they were flourishing in their careers and they were loved unconditionally. 

  
  
  
  


**Patsy Mount**

  
  


Patsy Mount was born Patience Elizabeth Mount was born July 16th 1933, in Shanghai, and her family lived in singapore. Patsy had a younger sister named Elizabeth Mount, sadly though when Patsy was just 9 years old she and her family were captured and put in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Patsy was in the Camp with her mother Doreen and her sister Elizabeth, who both died of the disease typhoid and malnutrition just weeks apart, her mother and sister dying was the inspiration for her to go into nursing as well as when she helped out in the makeshift hospital tent in the camp. After World War Two ended, Patsy went to a Catholic boarding school with very strong Catholic Nuns teaching her, which was not a nice experience for her and she then trained as a nurse after she graduated. 

  
  


Patsy didn’t keep in touch with her Father as much as she wished she had later in life, but after what happened to her sister and mother she was scared to lose him, so it was easier to push him away.

  
  


Patsy struggled to let her walls down for anyone, it would take a very special someone for that to happen, in the year 1955 Patsy met that very person, Delia Busby was in her second year of her Nursing qualification at the same Hospital that Patsy was working at. This was Patsy's first nursing job after graduating, and this is where they began working together, on the male surgical ward of the hospital. Patsy hated it and a few years later she left the hospital and went to work for Sister Julienne at Nonnatus House, but the only reason she didn’t leave earlier was because of Delia Busby.

  
  
  


In 1962 After a hard few years Patsy and Delia were seemingly on track with their lives but during the beginning of the year Patsy received a letter, a letter she didn’t want to read but eventually she had no choice, her father was dying. Patsy wasn’t good at losing people, she knew how to care for the sick, she was good at her job, and Sister Monica Joan was the one who convinced Patsy to take a leave of absence to care for her dying father, and she did.

  
  


Patsy was away until November and when she came back to Delia, they kissed under the cold night light, and she made a promise to Delia “Wherever I go next, you’re coming with me…”

  
  
  


**Delia Busby**

Delia was born in 1937, in Pembrokeshire, Wales. She was born to Callwen and Alan Busby, Delia had one older sister named Gwenevire, who was eleven years old when Delia was born. Delia was a surprise her mother didn’t even know she was pregnant until she was in labour at the hospital and in agony, it was the way Delia had been sitting inside the womb. The fact that Delia was a surprise, for Callwen she became incredibly over protective of her youngest daughter, Delia was a bit of a ‘Daddy’s girl’ her father always told her to follow her heart.

  
  


In 1954 Delia headed to London and in 1955 she began her nursing career, she loved every second of it, she loved learning, and when Delia knew she wanted to become a midwife, she told her mother and her mother wasn’t impressed, so Delia just pretended otherwise to not upset her. Then in her second year of her nursing qualification she met someone who was quite remarkable, her name was Patience Elizabeth Mount. 

  
  


They became best friends, and 6 months later they began dating, and it was the best decision the both of them made. In 1958 when Delia turned 21 years old she graduated from her nursing qualification with top marks.

  
  


Patsy stayed on at the job at the hospital until 1959 when she gave in her notice, Patsy spoke to Delia about her decision and Delia told her girlfriend to do what is going to make her happiest. So Patsy began a new journey, she missed working with Delia, but she was happy to be out of a work environment she didn’t like and was making her miserable. 

  
  


Delia was also a volunteer with the St. John Ambulance and she began helping Patsy weekly with the cubs. They spent every moment that they weren’t working with each other and with their friends. Then in 1960 Patsy and Delia made a rather big decision to move in together, and it was a decision neither took lightly but they were so excited to go on this new adventure.

  
  


The first day they had moved in Delia was running late for work and Patsy told her to take her bike so she would get there on time, but on her way Delia was knocked unconscious of her bike. When Patsy found out, she didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t even talk to her friends at nonnatus, they didn’t know that they were together.

  
  


When Patsy went to see Delia at the hospital (the place she met Callwen Busby for the first time) Delia couldn’t even remember who Patsy was, this broke Patsy. The next few months were incredibly difficult, Callwen took her daughter home to Wales, Patsy wrote to Delia’s mother and when Delia began recovering and getting her memory back, Patsy started writing to Delia, but she had no reply because unbeknown to her Delia’s mother had hid them all from her daughter.

  
  


However in December of 1960 Delia came back to Poplar with her mother, but when her mother went to church Delia came and found Patsy and they talked and Patsy asked her girlfriend to come back and she did. In the next few months Delia continued seeing the doctor at the hospital to make sure she was fully recovered and in April she was given a clean bill of health and she also was able to start working back at the hospital again.

  
  


When Delia told her mother, her mother said no and they would be going back to Wales because she couldn’t lose her, which Delia didn’t fight, but when she told Patsy they would be going back to Wales, Patsy was heartbroken but suggested they come for lunch at Nonnatus so Delia could say goodbye to everyone. It was during the lunch that Sister Julienne suggested that Delia stayed at nonnatus as the nurses home had been knocked down and it would mean Delia could carry on with her nursing and she could start her training in midwifery. Callwen very reluctantly agreed. It was the best thing that could have happened after the hell they had both been through.

  
  


In 1962 when Delia was 24 she began her midwifery training with the help from Phyllis, that in itself was a blessing in disguise, however in March of 1962, Patsy had to leave for Hong Kong, because her father was dying and this time it was Delia who had no word from her until November when she returned the evening of Tom and Barbara’s wedding.

  
  


They both decided then that if they ever go anywhere again, that they would go together.

  
  
  
  
  


**Patsy and Delia Mount-Busby**

  
  


Now in 1962 Patsy and Delia had decided to leave Nonnatus House and move away, after Patsy’s father had passed away he had left her a lot of money in his will, so Patsy and Delia were able to take a year out and go travelling, they bought a mint green 1948 volkswagen campervan, they travelled around the UK for a year, before they settled down in Scotland with their new Beagle puppy called Garbo. It was honestly perfect, they started of right in the very south of the United Kingdom, in a place called Porthgwarra, then they went onto Plymouth, then the travelled along the south coast, into Southampton, Portsmouth, Eastbourne and Folkstone then they went up to Poplar and stayed at for a week, they had timed it perfectly, as both Valerie and Lucille had their week of that same week, so they all went out and did a few things together, and by this time it was Summer, so they could all travel and go to the beach, go swimming, get 99’s. That week is when their friendship really flourished, and when Trixie and Sister Francis both joined them for a few hours, it was just perfect, all of them, just doing what young people do in the 60’s although Sister Francis did push the boat out a little bit further than she would have usually done. After that week, their friendship just grew and they all made sure to keep in touch as much as possible. Before Patsy and Delia left on the rest of their trip around the UK, they had dinner at Nonnatus. Perfect ending to a perfect week.

  
  


Patsy and Delia then travelled to Southend-on-Sea, then up to Norwhich which was their favorite place to have visited so far, it was just somewhere that they both knew would be a place they would visit every year.

Then from Norwich they went along to Peterborough, Delia wanted to visit where Catherine of Aragon was buried, at Peterborough cathedral, and after they went over to Wales, to Pembrokeshire to visit Delia’s mother, Callwen Busby and her family they spent a while there, Patsy was very good at not saying too much to Callwen, although not completely, she wouldn’t let Callwen say a word against her daughter, or them. After spending a not too bad 5 days in Wales, they moved on to Sheffield and then up to York.

  
  


Now by the time they had arrived in York it was the end of October, and Delia decided she would drag Patsy to an animal shelter. They walked round the shelter 3 4 times before they made a decision, they picked a little boy beagle, named him Garbo, and as they left with Garbo, Delia cried because she wanted to take every animal from the shelter with them but it was just impossible. Garbo made their little family complete.

  
  


They then made one more stop before they arrived at their final destination. They stayed for a month in a place called Dryhope, which was a village on the borders of Scotland, by St. Mary’s loch, which is the largest natural loch in the Scottish Borders. The two women both loved the sound of the name and when they arrived it was a beautiful little place to go walking, on either flat ground or over hills, and with Garble, it was perfect. Each morning they had breakfast and tea or coffee overlooking St. Mary’s loch, they could watch the sunset or sunrise, sitting on the edge of their campervan, snuggled up with Garble laying spread across both their laps. They went for more walks than they thought they could, also finding a beautifully old tower that they walked up, which was really rather exciting, especially for Delia, she adored anything in relation to History.

  
  
  


On December 4th 1962 They settled up in a seaside town called Kirkcudbright, it was a stunning little village, and Patsy, Delia and puppy Garbo settled in perfectly, they found and bought a little cottage that stood on a hill by the water on it’s own, it was beautifully perfect, it was quiet and it was just what they needed. Sister Julienne had written ahead to the order of St. Mary’s, which was another midwifery and nursing order, so Patsy and Delia were all set up when they arrived.

  
  


Patsy continued her work there until she retired in 1998 and Delia, now Delia, went on to become a Gynecological Doctor, she knew she still wanted to work with mothers and babies but she wanted more, so she soon realised when that was to be. It was a very proud moment for them both. Delia retired in the year 2000, aged 63.

Back in 1974 they adopted twin 4 year old girls, Patsy and Delia had applied in 1972 and it took them 2 years for someone to even give them a chance. They named their daughters, Elizabeth Mount-Busby and Lilyanne Mount-Busby, it was funny, because they both looked rather like a mixture of Patsy and Delia, Elizabeth had Patsy’s Red hair and Lilyanne had brown hair and they both had the same Aqua Blue eyes. 

Their girls were their pride and joy, Elizabeth went on to train as a midwife and LilyAnne, she went on to become a lawyer, specifically for equality for same sex couples. Their family was happy and completed and their retirement was also a very happy one.

  
  
  
  


**Valerie Dyer**

  
  


Valerie Elsie Dyer was born in Grundy Street, to June and James Dyer in the middle of a blizzard, on November 26th 1934 she was her parents middle daughter. She had 2 elder sisters Elsie June Dyer who was born on 23rd February 1924, then Florence Ann Dyer, who was born October 18th 1926, then Valerie came along, and then June dyer gave birth to another 2 babies, she had Elizabeth Rose Dyer on August 18th 1935, she came a month early, and had to stay in a hospital for a while before she was allowed home and then her last baby arrived on September 6th of 1937, they name her Charlotte Julienne Dyer. They were a whole family, the Dyer’s had been in the east end of London for generations.

  
  


When the war broke out on 1st September 1939 Valerie was only young, she was only 5 years old, but she remembers her parents being terrified and she remembers her father leaving in his army uniform and throwing her in the air and giving her the tightest hug he’d ever given, even to his oldest children who were 15 and 13 when the war broke out. Valerie remembers her Mother and her 2 teenage sisters just crying when he left. Her mother cried when she saw him off and then she only saw her cry one more time in 1944, when she received a telegram informing her the James had been killed in action, Valerie vividly remembers her mother falling to her knees and 8 year old Valerie ran over to her mother and wrapped her arms tight around her mother's neck holding her tight, before she spoke “Is Daddy hurt?”

  
  
  


It was a day Valerie would never forget, and from that day on she knew she wanted to do work that would help people, so she studied her ass off, making sure she got her grades, which took a lot of hard work, she wasn’t someone were studying came easy, she struggled but she knew exactly what she wanted to do so Valerie made sure to put in the work. Val would actually spend most of her time studying and spare time with her Gran.

  
  


Valerie passed her exams with flying colours, and Valerie applied for Queen Alexandra’s army corps, which is a medical unit that provides nursing services to British Army soldiers wherever they are stationed in the world. Valerie was offered the job and she was employed with them for 6 years, but there were some not so good things that happened while she was working there, she enjoyed the job just not the doctors above her who thought she didn’t know what she was talking about because she was a woman.

  
  


When Valerie saw that there was no where else within her job she could go, she gave in her notice and moved back home to Poplar, but she wasn’t good at not working or doing much, so she started working in her Aunt Flo’s pub, ‘The hand and shears’ and in the spring of 1962 when Valerie had been home and pulling pints for about a year at the ripe old age of 26, while she was working there was an explosion at the docks. The whole building shook, Valerie shivered from head to do but she ran as fast as her legs could carry her to the docks, which is where she first met Shelagh Turner and the two of them helped the men that had been hurt in the explosion and because of what had happened and there being nothing at the docks to help them to help the men and with one man having died and another gone blind from the explosion they had to attend court. 

  
  


After the explosion had happened both Shelagh and Valerie had gone back to Nonnatus house to be cleaned up and and make sure they weren’t in too much shock, Shelagh had taken the brunt of the shock as she had been standing on the docks when the explosion happened. While they were getting cleaned up this is where Valerie first met sister Julienne, and Valerie spoke about when she was a child she remembers seeing the Midwifes on their bicycles going off to the mothers and Valerie and sisters would try and guess what the mother would be having a boy or girl, and she told Sister Julienne they used to think they bought the babies in the bags. Sister Julienne asked Valerie where she’d been nursing since leaving the army, but she explained she hadn’t and she’s been pulling pints in her Auntie’s pub since she came home.

  
  


A few weeks later Sister Julienne came to visit Valerie in the pub, and asked if Valerie would be want to work at Nonnatus House and if she would officially apply for the position, of course Valerie said Yes, and 2 weeks later, June Dyer walked arm in arm with her daughter to Nonnatus House.

  
  


Valerie fit right in, she became friends with everyone quite quickly and they all loved her equally as much. Then in the winter in 1963 Lucille Anderson arrived.

  
  
  


**Lucille Anderson**

  
  


Lucille Anderson was a nurse and midwife who had arrived from Jamaica, she grew up in Mandeville, with 2 sisters and a brother, her mother and grandmother were very dominant people, her father was there, but he worked building houses and other construction work almost day and night. When Lucille was 14 she started work as a Librarian in the only library for miles, and she loved it but shortly after she started work there her youngest sister, Aayla Anderson became very sick with Polio, but because it was an unknown disease know one knew what it was and the whole family was isolated other than Lucille and her father who were both still working.

  
  


Lucille remembered reading about something from and English medical book about how some children were fine one day and the next they couldn't walk or sometime breathe, and so she searched and read up on the disease until she found a name “Poliomyelitis” seeing what it was Lucille ran home, and then carried her 6 year old Sister on her back for 3 days, with the medical book with the disease in, in her back pocket until they reached the hospital. 

  
  


Her Sister eventually recovered but Lucille knew from that day on that she wanted to help people, care for people and she looked at what she could do and she would look up Nursing books and seeing that she could specialise in bringing beautiful babies into the world, she knew what she wanted to do, and so she studied while working and she passed all her exams with top marks, and she then travelled to England to train as a Nurse and Midwife under the NHS. When she told her Mother (Atalia Anderson) and Father (Abisai Anderson) her Mother was uneasy but her father was incredibly proud of her and her grandmother Lucille was more proud than anyone.

  
  


When the young Lucille was 21 (a week from her 22nd birthday) she set sail for England, with other students, which took about 4 weeks to arrive. Once she arrived she headed with other students, straight to a teaching hospital in Taunton in Somerset. From Day 1 of arriving she loved every second, the first few weeks she felt rather homesick, however she just made sure to concentrate on her learning, keep her nose in her books and make her family proud. She did just that, because 3 years later, when Lucille turned 25, she graduated from nursing school with flying colours.

  
  


Lucille’s resume was then sent off to a few different hospitals, private hospital, Queen Alexandra’s army core and a little place called Nonnatus House, she had a few offers, and something just pulled her to Nonnatus House, so she wrote back immediately accepting Sister Julienne’s offer of work.

**Valerie and Lucille**

  
  


Lucille’s journey from Taunton to Poplar was by far not an easy one, because of the big freeze the train she was on broke down half way, so after 8 hours sat still, Lucille suggested everyone jumped out and walked to their destinations. That’s exactly what they did, and finally on a late night in early January of 1963, Lucille arrived at Nonnatus house, but not before falling over in the snow, which when she arrived and was greeted by Nurse Dyer, Valerie took her inside and cleaned her knee up and asked her lots of questions about who she was, where she was from, where she trained etc.

  
  


Valerie soon became Lucille’s best friend at Nonnatus House, they did almost everything together, they attended a lot of births together, even went to bingo with Valerie’s gran and Trixie, but when Lucille began to unofficially date a man named Cyril, for Valerie she was heart broken, because by this time Valerie had fallen head over heels in love with Nurse Anderson, and Lucille herself, she was only with Cyril because she never thought anyone else would want her, but 6 months later Valerie told Lucille how she felt on Christmas day of 1965 and Lucille kissed Valerie under some mistletoe after she broke it off with Cyril. 1 years later Valerie and Lucille finally moved out of Nonnatus house after saving up they moved to a small house in Poplar and they continued working for Sister Julienne in their nursing and midwifery, 2 years after they moved out. 

  
  


In 1968, they adopted their first daughter, Faith Rose Anderson-Dyer and she was beautiful, Lucille doted on her as did Valerie and 2 years later in 1970, they adopted another daughter, her story was hard. The birth mother had been addicted to drugs, and Valerie had delivered her, but the baby had been born underweight, and soon after the birth she began having seizures. The mother had already said she would be putting her baby up for adoption and she stuck to it and quickly moved out of the area after the birth. 

  
  


Valerie however sat with the baby day and night, making sure she was okay, making sure she would survive. When one of the doctors noticed this, she asked Valerie how she would feel about adopting her, would that be an option for her? Valerie knew she had to speak to Lucille first, and as soon as she did there was no question. They adopted her. They named her Blossom Hope Anderson-Dyer. Valerie and her were always joined at the hip, but then Faith and Lucille were joined at the hip. Their daughters were their livelihood.

  
  
  


The year 1975 was a good one, Patsy and Delia and Trixie had both asked Valerie and Lucille to come and visit them, they both offered to babysit too, and honestly Valerie and Lucille needed a weekend with just the two of them, so in February they went and visited their friends, Patsy and Delia looked after Faith and Blossom for the weekend, and Valerie and Lucille took advantage, they went to a secluded cabin in the forest, and this was where Valerie officially proposed to her girlfriend, and told her if it is ever made possible in their lifetime, that she wants to marry her, and of course Lucille said yes, but it wasn’t just that, they decided that this is where they wanted to live, in a cabin in the woods so they looked around found one not too far from Patsy and Delia, and they moved in quickly. 

  
  


Valerie and Lucille never moved away from the cabin, they continued nursing until the retiredValerie retired in 2008 Lucille Retired in 2005.

  
  


Their daughters continued to make them proud because they both went on to do jobs they enjoyed, Faith became a Historian but also did a lot of advocacy for mental health and same sex adoption and marriage. Blossom joined up to the Queen Alexandra’s Army Corps, as soon as she was old enough, but she also joined her sister in advocacy.


End file.
